Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Vibration question...

I'm bumping this back to the top because I have the same problem and am stumped.

One of my clients is 70 miles away (65 of it highway). I usually have the cruise set at 74. Some days are as smooth as can be, and some days the whole car just shakes.

My local mechanic has checked and rechecked everything he can think of and says everything is fine. He once thought it could be from the torque converter, but after I had the tranny rebuilt after it blew in June, it still shakes on occasion just as before. New tires, balance and alignment didn't help either.

Well guys, the vibration is not normal. I had one creep up on me in my BMW a few years ago. The vibration started in around 65 and would fade as I passed 70 or so. Drove me NUTZ trying to figure out where it came from and got worse with time. Finally, I bit the bullet & bought two new front control arms & two new front wheel bearings (which I replaced once when tracking down the problem) and the problem went away.

The Bimmer is 18 years old & drives like new. My money is on the control arms because in the case of the BMW the inboard joints/bushings were worn. The wheel bearings looked & felt OK, but I replaced them anyway.

Inspect those control arms carefully, if the inner bushings or joints don't look to be in good shape, consider replacing them.

This is simple, but worth looking at. Make sure the face of the rims and the face of the hubs are both squeeky clean with no rust. Even a very small pebble stuck between the faces may cause vibration at that speed. Also, if you have any of those retainer rings on your lugs, ensure they're there on all 4 or not there at all. In fact, if you have all 4 consider removing them.

Good luck and let us know if you resolve it.

If it's any consolation, I am running into the same problem. I thought I'd had it cured...at least temporarily...when I replaced my tires, had an alignment done and (obviously) balancing.

The funny thing is that the problem comes and goes. I had a similar vexing problem with a Honda that I owned and I was able to trace the problem to aftermarket rims that were not hub-centric.

I think the problem is clearly something to do with the rotating bits in the front end. I think it might even be the drive shaft(s). I just had a tie rod replaced on my RHS which mitigated the problem without completely solving it so I think I'm on the right track.

I'll let you know, but I'm not willing to spend lots of money on a soon-to-be 9-year-old car.

Eric

I've recently made one modification that seems to be helping. Tuesday of this week I went on a 250 mile trip. When I left home, driving about 65 mph, the vibration was bad, and I was dreading the trip. I started adjusting the air pressure in the tires, to see what effect that had. When I lowered the pressure, the vibration got really bad, so I started raising it. Since then, I've played with a lot of pressures.

I'm currently running about 38 in the front, and about 44 in the rears, and my vibration is minimal. It's still noticeable, but not very much. However, my tires (185-70-14) are supposed to carry a maximum of 35 psi. Also, I'm getting a rough ride from the over-inflated tires. I plan to drive it like I now have it for a few days, and see if the vibration remains minimal, or if it gets worse again. If the vibration remains minimal, I'm going to assume that my problem is somewhere in the tires, perhaps a defective sidewall that is not flexing uniformly.

I think your onto something with the air pressure.

Go to www.hunter.com and click on 'Find Local Rep'.
Plug in your zip code and find out who in your area has a Hunter 9700 'Road Force Balancer'. (This balancer measures the 'stiffness' of your sidewalls all the way around the tire (by applying up to 1400 lbs of force by way of a hydraulically applied roller against the tread (i.e, 'road force') and at the same time it measures the lateral and radial runnout of your wheel rims to the nearest .001". It then instructs the operator how much to slip the tire around the rim (after breaking down the bead) so that the stiffness of the tire is offset by any runout of the rim. After re-seating the beads, the Hunter 9700 t-h-e-n balances the tire and wheel assembly.

(Also, since I haven't had the wheels of this '95 Contour I'm working on, I don't know if these wheels are considered to be 'hubcentric' or 'lugcentric'. You don't want to have tyour wheels balanced by mounting the wheel via its center hole IF the wheels are lugcentric.)